


Mutant Scars

by nursal1060



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Best Friends, Blood, Blood and Injury, Boyfriends, Comfort, Comforting Dave, Cutting, Depressed Karkat, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, Eventual Happy Ending, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Friendship/Love, Happy Ending, Healing, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Injured Karkat, Injury, Injury Recovery, John is just there, Kanaya Maryam/Karkat Vantas Moirallegiance, Karkat Hates Himself, Karkat Needs a Hug, Karkat Swearing, Kissing, M/M, Mama Kanaya, Mental Health Awareness, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mutant Hate, Pain, Sad Karkat, Secrets, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Serious Injuries, Strider Feels, Suicidal Karkat, True Love, Understanding, Violence, concerned Dave, dave is a good boyfriend, davekat - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-25
Updated: 2017-05-25
Packaged: 2018-11-04 20:29:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10998411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nursal1060/pseuds/nursal1060
Summary: Karkat is fearful and depressed on the meteor, and lets his feeling out through harming himself.He tries to hide it from everyone, but his boyfriend finds out, and Dave is determined to help Karkat feel that he isn't the only freak out there.





	Mutant Scars

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Self-Harm near the beginning!!!
> 
> This fanfic was in the works for almost a YEAR, and I'm happy to say, it's finally done. I wanted to highlight a side of Karkat that is acknowledged but rarely portrayed, and a side of Dave that is rarely seen. This was written not only to honor the characters but to bring a bit of light to the importance of getting help when it's needed.
> 
> Comment and kudos are always appreciated, I hope you enjoy <3

Mutant.

Mutant.

Mutant.

MUTANT.

Karkat had taken his sharpest sickle and cut the word as deep as he could bear into his gray skin. Not once, not twice, but four separate times, once on each forearm and thigh.  
He bit hard into a piece of bark as he did the deed, watching his scarlet blood run from the open wounds and the light red matching tears that dropped right besides his marks. The blood and scars healed so slowly and red and bright that it sickened him.  
Why did he have to be the one cursed with this decrepit color in his veins? Candy red...it sickened him to the core. His brain ran wild with the fear and implications and disgust that came with being the lowest on the hemospectrum.  
His boyfriend, being a silly pink human, could never understand that. Dave could wear his red knight-of-time gear with only positive reactions, instead of fearing death, hatred, ridicule, and scapegoating like Karkat would if he tried to do the same. He refused to rise to godtier, hiding and evading death as long as he could...so no one could see the truth.  
Karkat silently awaited for the terrible stinging that racked his whole body to numb. It would numb sooner or later...then he could wrap the wounds and get back to his business.  
His fits of self-hate and anxiety were getting worse and worse the longer he spent on the meteor with his remaining friends. He wanted to stop being red blooded...stop being himself.

Kanaya was the first to notice the change on Karkat. She asked gently, “Karkat, you smell like injury, are you alright?”  
Karkat did his best to sound normal, even while in pain, “Of course Kanaya, why the fuck wouldn’t I be?  
Kanaya raised an eyebrow, asking again, “You smell like open flesh wounds. Are you hurt?” She approached, and Karkat immediately took a step backwards. “Karkat…?”  
Karkat said, “Kanaya, if I say I’m fucking fine, I’m fucking fine...alright?” His voice didn’t come out strong and leader-like like he’d hoped...it was a mix of pain and hesitation, and Kanaya knew it. She knew him best, and he wasn’t fooling her. But she was also his closest ally.  
Karkat took a breath and spoke a little more confidently, “I’m fine...don’t worry about me, alright? You have too much to do to be worrying about me.” Kanaya frowned slightly but nodded and let him be. Karkat spent quite a lot of time with Sollux that day, although they were annoying each other, because he didn’t want to run into John and Dave…  
Sollux told him as him continued to code with his blind eyes after a few hours, “Hey, I’m parched...can you get me a human drink, KK?”  
Karkat rolled his eyes and said, “Uh you can get it. It’s just down the hall from the husktop lab.”  
Sollux smiled and teased, “Oh, KK...why would you make the blind troll do that? You know I’m completely blind, I could get hurt, and you know what Aradia would do if-”  
Karkat groaned and cut him off, “Fine, you honey-lipped fucker! I’ll be back.” He stood and left the lab as Sollux was snickering at him. He went down the hall to the room the humans called the ‘kitchen’. He poured a cup of brown caffeinated water, or ‘coffee’, for Sollux as he heard an annoying voice coming towards the room.  
Silently cursing to himself as they walked in, he ignored the human for a second before John commented, “Oh there you are Karkat! We’ve been looking for you all day! Dave went to see Terezi, he was tired of searching.”  
Karkat rolled his eyes as mixed some troll-safe honey that Rose brought with her in the coffee before he said, “Oh whoopie, am I not allowed to be busy, this crappy meteor can’t run itself without its leader.”  
John laughed, “Silly, you can make some time for video games in the bro-fort.”  
Karkat groaned, “Why don’t you help with the damn responsibilities and I won’t have to slave away from group stupidity all the time-?” Karkat felt the dull throbbing return to his limbs. Shit shit shit...did he not use enough bandages, or did he bind too soon after the blood clotted? Either way, he couldn’t let John onto it. John said something to him with a large smile, something that Karkat couldn’t pay attention to because he had his eyes closed, trying to compose himself through the sharp pain.  
John noticed after a moment, asking, “Hey, you alright Kar?”  
Karkat attempted to pick the coffee cup up and leave, saying, “Fucking fine, totally not in need of-OW!” Karkat dropped the cup on the ground and bent forward as he clung onto his arms. They were stinging like pins and needles were stabbing him.  
John approached, asking, “Karkat?! What happened-?”  
Karkat looked up with angry eyes, in pain, hissing, “Don’t fucking...touch me...Egbert. I’m...fine.” He steadied himself for a moment, and before Egbert could insist on getting Kanaya, Karkat bolted out, to the adjacent hallway. A few seconds into running, he felt sharp stinging in his legs as well. Fuck...he probably reopened the wounds on his thighs. He leaned against the walls, lightheaded, as he moved slowly to his respiteblock.  
“Karkat~!” Karkat cursed and turned to see Terezi and his boyfriend, Dave, coming at him.  
Terezi commented “Oh, I smell something delicious~ coming from you!” Karkat watched in abject horror as Terezi ran up and hugged him, pressing him against the wall. Karkat’s eyes teared up and he let out a loud and painful scream, feeling Terezi’s body and the wall press against all his scars. He swore he could feel the blood seeping out of the binding while it felt like there were needles pushing through his wounded flesh.  
Terezi backed away and Dave rushed to him, “Karkat!” Karkat wanted them to go away, but felt Dave’s arm around his waist, lifting him up across his shoulder. He heard Dave talk, “Let Kanaya and Rose know, I’m going to see what’s wrong.” Dave moved through the hall towards his bedroom, taking Karkat with him, who seemed to fading in and out of consciousnesses. 

Karkat came to inside’s Dave’s room, as he felt his sweater coming off. Dave was undressing him, noticing the bloody bandages on him. Karkat quickly tried to sit up and stop Dave, but Dave looked determined to see what was wrong.  
Dave said aloud, “The fuck Karkles? What are all these bandages from? ...is there some under your pants too?” Karkat hissed out and tried stop Dave from pulling his pants down, but they came off. Karkat couldn’t see Dave’s eyes through his shades, but by the face he could see, Dave looked horrified.  
Dave asked, “Karkles, what the hell happened to you?”  
Karkat looked up at him from the bed he was laying on, saying after a moment of silence, “Nothing...just...fucking bleeding…”  
Dave’s expression turned to one of frustration, as he exclaimed, “Karkat, you’re injured! Why didn’t you tell someone, anyone, that you were hurt?!”  
Karkat’s bloodpusher ached as he could hear Dave’s concern, but he said simply “You would have...tried to...stop...me.” Dave’s face turned back to its usual unironic expression before he left the bed to go to his bathroom. He came back with a pair of surgical scissors.  
Karkat saw Dave moving towards him with it, and tried to inch back as he said, “Fucker...don’t…” Dave quickly jumped on the bed and straddled Karkat’s hips, holding Karkat’s gray hands above his head with one hand, holding the scissors in the other, “Motherfucker...not the time...to be...a smooth...fuckass…”  
Dave moved the scissor blades under the first section of bandages on Karkat’s arm, saying, “Hold still, I might cut you if you squirm.” Karkat shook his head no, but he calmed down and surrendered internally as he heard the snip-snip-snip of the scissors taking off the first section of bandages. Then the second. Then the third and forth. Dave was shocked at the amount of blood on the bandages. He went to get a wet towel and clean the blood off of Karkat’s limbs...and that’s when he read the words on Karkat’s body.  
Dave asked, “Mutant…? You didn’t...you didn’t do this yourself did you?”  
Karkat laugh somberly to himself, “Course not...Gamzee and his...fucking clubs...would’v-”  
Dave cut him off with a loud question, “Why?!”  
Karkat freed his arms and pushed his boyfriend off as he sat up, saying almost bitterly, “You don’t know...you’d never...fucking understand…only a freak like me-”  
Dave turned Karkat’s face to face him and stared him in the eye before taking off his shades so his red eyes connected to Karkat’s yellow ones, “Tell me what I don’t understand. I’m a freak too.” Karkat froze for a second and stared at Dave’s eyes. They were candy red like his blood...but they were beautiful.  
Karkat admitted to him, “I’m a freak, Strider. I fucking hate...myself...I fucking hate...my blood. I hate being the way that I fucking am. Why would anyone want to love a fucking mutant?! I’m so gross-” Dave leaned in over Karkat’s lap and kissed him. Karkat was frozen, his bloodpusher went faster and faster, his cheeks tinted the color of his blood.  
Karkat pushed Dave back after a second, weakly, as he asked with a red tear coming out of his eye, “Why...do you love me?”  
Dave leaned back in towards Karkat and whispered his his ear, “I love you for you. You’re an asshole sometimes, I don’t care. I love you, for the stupid, the unironic, for the bro moments, and the matesprit ones…”  
Karkat froze for a moment before he laughed “Was that a...confession, Strider?”  
Dave smiled, “Maybe-”  
Kanaya barged into the room with John, “Karkat, John exclaimed I had to come find you right away-!” John and Kanaya froze and so did Dave and Karkat. Karkat was still, at the moment, in his boxers, and Dave was straddling him.  
John asked, “Are we interupting-?”  
Karkat hissed, “EGBERT!!” Dave laughed and Kanaya came inside to help Karkat seal the marks on his body.

Maybe being a mutant on this meteor wasn’t so bad.


End file.
